L is for Life
by Teela-Y
Summary: A shapeshifter has a Life Note and all of reality for L is suddenly lost after being brought back to life... and a new terror begins upon him to understand, more than ever, the world around him.
1. L Lawliet

**L Is for Life**

**(Edited: Grammer/Spelling Changes. Divided things up by their official chapters.) **

**Chapter One: L Lawliet**

His hair, a hopeless mop of black, contrasted against the white shirt he wore. He was vaguely aware of the fabric, but more focused on his throat, which was dry. His lungs felt incredibly empty... his mind swam, and his lips parted, taking in the first full breath he'd taken in years.

With that breath came a painful jolt from every organ in his body, and his heart began jackhammering in his chest, rapidly then slowing to become a regular metronome of "da-dump, da-dump".

He looked around; he stood in a building that was dark and wondered if he were blind. This was the first thought... the second, he voiced:  
"Where is Yagami Light?"  
There came no answer from the darkness that surrounded him. He breathed, trying to ignore the uncomfortable worming there was in his gut, trying to forget the dull throbbing that had also erupted in nearly every corridor of his brain. All, save for one, which was that insanity section, the part that was in pain all the time, so much pain that the rest of the nerve cells, axon and dendrite all, chose to ignore it.

"Welcome back, Ryuzaki." A feminine voice came from somewhere around him. "Welcome... back."

The boy looked around, somehow recognizing that to be his name. His ears tasted sound for the first several time in years, which caused a section in the base of his head to thunk even harder. He was unaware of the deep crevices forming themselves in his brain as each memory returned to him, but he was unaware, because the other parts of his brain responsible for feel, logic, and emotion were not awake yet.

"Where's Light?" Somehow it was the only thing he could say. The words tasted funny, and to hear his voice made him cringe for reasons he didn't understand. It didn't feel right, because at that instant, his logic half of his brain as well as the emotional half both came into being. It didn't feel right... His mind pressed this issue, swam in its ocean of disheveled confusion.

Why didn't it feel right? It was his voice, wasn't it? Somehow it simply didn't feel right still.

"In several moments I think you should be aware of everything that happened before."  
_Before?_ He wondered. _Before what?_

Before, was a word, that meant, strictly, that something happened before... now. Before now? What happened before now? His mind began to throw splotches of blue and yellow; he saw the colors vividly, but knew that the reality around him was that everything was dark, and that really he could see nothing.

"Before what?" His throat had been dry _before _though now it burned with unrelenting fury, and he wondered how he should quell it. Gasoline? No, no... he corrected himself, water. Water was what put out a fire... His natural knowledge began to return, his mind starting to scoop out the knowledge from his memories and piece it with his logical sectors. The lines in his brain deepened, some smoothing, and many forming deep canyons across the smooth surface that less than five minutes ago had been his brain.

"Ryuzaki, what is your code name?" The female voice sounded closer now.  
A slight, almost robotic pause came from the boy, Ryuzaki.

"Why do you need to know?" Ryuzaki didn't snap, but answered calmly and assuredly, his tone almost seductive in its simply nature. Somewhere in the darkness came a chuckle.

"Good, good... But you have three, do you not?"

"How do you know this?" Ryuzaki became aware that he was lying on the ground; he hadn't felt that before. He put his hands to get up, but suddenly found that someone or something had then gently put their hands on his chest. Instinctively, he reached his hands to try and get them off, but the hands then flew over his.

"Relax. I'll tell you everything in time. I'd turn on the lights, but I don't think your eyes can handle it." The voice came from a figure that was obviously only inches away. Ryuzaki's body tensed, not because of the closeness of whomever had their hands on him, but because he wanted out of the darkness. He had to settle his basic needs before he could begin to wonder about anything else.

"I'd like it if you would turn on the lights... I would like to see." He was unaware that he was pleading, and he felt the hands leave his own. Moments later, light erupted throughout the room, filling his eyes and lighting them, as well as everything else, brightly.

Ryuzaki looked around, taking note of a girl that stood a few feet away with her arms crossed, looking at him. She wore a jean jacket, buttoned to the top, blue jeans, and her face was too white, making the her deep blue eyes stand out in like pools of water on her face. Whoever she is, Ryuzaki thought, she's very young. He watched as she moved towards him, her brown hair, which stretched a little ways past the middle of her back, looking like it cascaded down in the manner it rippled and shook as she walked.

"I'm Teela, Teela Ketana." She announced, smiling, and sticking out a hand. "Don't ask yourself if we've ever met. We haven't. You don't know anything about me, but, I know tons about you."

The boy blinked, looking around now. He was in a white room, where only a dresser and a very large, clean window currently made the place look as though anyone lived there.. He also noticed that there were black buildings with little yellow squares for windows painted around the window, cartoon-like, mimicking the real ones that rested outside in the city.

"Are we in Tokyo?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Uhm... No, L." She seemed to bite her tongue guiltily. "How do I tell you this... It's been destroyed."  
He looked at her, found that the seriousness in her face was solid, and blinked.

"What?"

"The entire country of Japan is gone. Destroyed."

More silence. Finally, the girl, Teela, began laughing.

"Just kidding, Ryu, just kidding... relax." She said, hugging the boy who only continued to stare, turning back to the window.

"Where are we?" He tried again.

"I'll tell you that another time. We're here, for now, at a friend of mine's place. That's where we are."  
"Friend's place?" Ryuzaki asking, sighing. He had a headache, the first headache he'd had in a long time. In fact, he couldn't remember a time where his head hurt so terribly, aside from his early childhood, which was a result of, he later researched, the rapid development of the brain.

"Yeah. But that's irrelevant... L... Ryuzaki, do you remember what happened before? Before now?" Ryuzaki took note of her careful word choice, and immediately knew she was avoiding something.

He was deadpan after several seconds; his complexion darkened into a deep shade of scarlet, and the hairs on his neck stood up. For a moment Teela thought that she had seen his eyes threaten to roll back into his head, but as he took a deep breath, they settled.

"Data deletion... And after that, nothing..."  
"Do you have any idea what happened?"  
"I can't really think straight. Not sitting like this. Do you have a chair?" Ryuzaki asked casually. He had finally given in to answering the girl, because it was obvious that he wasn't the one in this situation given the chance to not answer. If he wanted his questions answered, he was better off answering hers too. He could figure that much, at least.

"No, I'm sorry..."

"And why is it that this place... this room doesn't have a door?" Ryuzaki took note of that strange fact and stared strangely up to Teela. She grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet.

"Do you remember what happened after that?" She pressed.

"No. Nothing. I don't really have an idea either."  
"I want to tell you, but I don't want to ruin your sanity, Ryuzaki. I want you to make a promise to me." The girl looked up to him; she was at least a head shorter.

"Hm?" He looked down into her sea-blue eyes, and had to look away. Their depth and color seemed unnatural.

"You won't kill yourself or try to kill yourself."  
"Why would I do that?!" The boy's eyes grew wide, the black hue under them almost seeming to be eye liner, but was in truth the neglect of sleep.

"Because... you died. You died, and I brought you back to life." Teela Ketana informed him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace, quickly letting him go to analyze his face.

"Dead?"  
"No, died. You're alive, now."  
"Dead?" He pondered. It was all he could do... Death was a non-logical sort of thing, and he tried to flounder in his mind for some memories of the actual process, if there was, but found he could recall nothing. Data deletion...and then nothing.

"Not dead. You died. Please don't keep repeating yourself."  
"Okay... and you brought me back... how?" Ryuzaki asked, his eyes still wide, reflecting the hunger of knowledge.

"Death Note. Life Note. Think about it." She replied with boredom, taking out of her back pocket a small notebook that seemed no bigger than a CD case. Ryuzaki stared at it, watched as she opened the book to a seemingly random page, and there, written in beautiful, curvaceous letters was his name: L Lawliet.

Many question erupted from Ryuzaki's mind, so many that it was all he could do but sigh, because every word wanted to be said at the same time, and that was impossible. He looked up to Teela Ketana, wondering what he was being forced into, and how he was going to find time to get answers for all his questions...

After several moments of silence-- it was the kind Ryuzaki enjoyed the most: Devoid of all sound-- Teela cleared her throat and walked towards Ryuzaki.

"Amazing." She looked upon him as an onlooker might a painting.

"What? Why am I amazing?"  
"Because you're a defiance of nature, L. In more than one way too."  
Ryuzaki made no attempt to reply. He only sat there, waiting for something to happen. Generally he would have made a random remark right about then, some intelligent statement that would catch everybody off guard, but he couldn't seem to focus on anything else but his questions, and their possible answers.

"Do you want to take a bath? Have something to eat?" Teela asked, raising one of her thin eyebrows. Her face was too white; Ryuzaki continued to take note of her features.

"I'm not really hungry... and I don't see any place I can take a bath." He looked to the dresser. He needed a place to think, needed the comfort of at least something he could stand in and against. The boy stood up, walking across the room, to the dresser, and pulled himself upon it, sitting slightly hunched over and balancing his weight upon his two feet.

Teela chuckled, smiling. Ryuzaki didn't see her pointed teeth, and she seemed to straighten up immediately, her hand flying to her mouth, as though to hide that fact.

"Why're you amused?"  
"You're just like you." The girl smiled, though not revealing her teeth.

"Who am I supposed to be like?"  
"You're amazing."  
"Please stop swooning over me." Ryuzaki didn't seem annoyed, and he didn't lash out at her, but his voice was unnervingly cold. The girl didn't seem to be bothered by it, however.

"The word you're looking for wouldn't exactly be 'swooning' per say, but rather marveling." Teela clarified. She watched as Ryuzaki looked up to her, seeming to analyze her constantly.

"How did you do it? Life Note? Does it have rules in it too?"  
"Not really. Only conditions. Every person you bring back to life is in some way, and I haven't figured this part out yet, connected to you, and that bringing someone back takes half your life away. So really I don't think it should be called a Life Note, because if you bring too many back-- I mean, think about if your lifespan is already short?!-- then you can die too. But I'm not really worried about that."  
"It must have been a heavy decision to make." Ryuzaki looked to his bare feet. They were too smooth to have really been his own, and he recalled having a bad case of dry skin on his heels that now seemed to have gone completely.

"Not really."

"Well any normal person wouldn't want to give up half their life for someone else. And why me? How many others have you brought back?"  
"Only one other."  
Ryuzaki stared. He watched as a small smile lit up her face, her lips a sliver of red against the ocean of white. His mouth went dry again, and he thought that perhaps it wasn't food he had recently eaten but chalk.

"Yagami Light?" The words came out in a sharp whisper.

"That jerk? I don't know what happened to him. I don't know if he lived or died. I never finished watching the show."  
"Show?"  
"Yeah! I watch other worlds... you know, dimensions and stuff. We're kind of a long way from Tokyo, but I watch other people and creatures. Somehow I find it entertaining."  
"Another dimensinon?" Ryuzaki tried, tasting the phrase. He already disliked all of the things she was speaking of, because most of it he only believed he'd find in some novel or comic book, and worst of all, it meant there was a lot he didn't know. He never believed he knew everything, but all that she was telling him seemed wrong.

He had felt the same about the Death Note: everything in existence never spoke of a "Death Note" and it seemed defiant to reality. He secretly wondered if reality could be some higher force's TV show, and that whatever that force felt like throwing in to get a good laugh was fate, but as long as he was on the winning end he never seemed to mind.

"Yes. I suppose you could call it that."  
"Are you God?" Ryuzaki didn't believe in what he asked, but at this point everything he had ever really "believed" was being tried.

"No... Heh, and nor would I want to be. He's a pretty busy guy, I'm guessing. I can honestly say I'm one of his creations, like you though! And that I'm very blessed. But hey, I can't exactly tell you you're God's creation, because I'm only inferring you believe in God. For all I know, you're athiest."  
"Doesn't matter. I believe in whatever I want. Changes with the weather, but I suppose I should have asked you if you're a higher force or something."  
"I'm not more better or worse than you, but I am a bit different."  
"Mmhm... I guessed as much." Ryuzaki bit his lip, looking up to the ceiling.

"You're more talkative now."  
"Yes... I can be talkative. When I'm not trying too hard to figure something out. Currently, I'm stuck here with you, supposedly freshly brought back to life, and talking about religion. It's a little strange."

"Only a little?"  
"Yes. I suppose it could be worse."  
"I'm a shapeshifter."  
"Now it's worse."  
Teela grinned again, revealing her pointed teeth. Ryuzaki stared, not at all surprised when they suddenly became dull and like his own.

"Awww... L, why aren't you amused?" She asked, walked towards him and leaning against the dresser. "I expected more of a reaction from you."  
"I'm not really in the mood for reacting."  
"Yes, I always wondered while I was watching you... do you have a depression problem?"  
"Not that I know of. I'm not in the mood for much right now because I'm sick of challenges. If there is a higher force, I'm wondering if I was brought back either to A) end Kira, which I'd really like to know what happened there, or B) be the one person that all of life's mysteries and creations are revealed to."  
"It's neither. Not that I'm a higher force, but through logic I can tell you it's neither." Teela shook her head to emphasize the point.

"What do you mean?"  
"You've been brought back to live. I didn't think it was fair that you had died, so, I brought you back. Could have been anyone else--"  
"This seems to be some sort of game to you. I'm not the only one who was killed thanks to Kira, and here you are---"

"I know, it is unfair that I didn't bring anyone else back. But I think you should be a little more thankful. The purpose of life isn't to solve it. Not everything is a puzzle, and things can be simple you know. I thought you knew that, but the way you're acting now says other wise."  
"I don't need a scolding." Ryuzaki replied plainly.

"The purpose of life is to live it, L. I built your body from your DNA in your brain cells. I took your brain from the laboratory that had been assigned to diagnose a 'super-natural' cause of death. Ryuzaki, they didn't even put your name in the paper. Watari, yes, but not you."  
"And that's the way it was supposed to be."  
"No but I can't do that for everybody L."  
"You played God, you're saying. You're just as bad as Kira. In fact, I wish Light was here right now."  
"How do you know it was even him?"  
"Oh come on... you think I didn't know? I just couldn't prove it. He was always one step ahead of me. I think that people playing God is just sickening. You brought me back from wherever I was, and now I have to suffer."  
"Why do you have to look at it that way? I didn't play God. In fact, I think I was being rather human. I was given a chance, and a choice. I took that chance, I made the choice. If anything, if there is a higher force-- don't forget Buddha! We can't just call him God, because I firmly believe that the higher power shouldn't have one name-- then if they didn't want it they could have stopped it."  
"I want to stop talking. You're giving me a headache. I want food."

"You're whining, but fine." Teela rolled her eyes, pulling herself away from the dresser. She turned towards the window, where the moon stood fixated and staring in at L, momentarily disappearing. She reappeared moments later holding two canisters of chocolate ice cream. Ryuzaki stared dreamily at the cans, and a small smile inched across his face, gradually trekking from ear to ear.

"Yum." He stood, and the girl held out the ice cream to him.

"Yay, I have my own pet L." She rolled her eyes, handing him the spoons and the cans. Teela watched as he took the tops off gentle and set them on the ground then beginning to spoon the soft cold substance into his mouth.  
"Want any?" He offered a spoon full. Teela shook her head.

"No thanks. I've got plenty more... Whoops, wrong thing to say..." Teela shook her head as Ryuzaki paused and looked up to her, his eye becoming bright.

"Great. But you do realize that you're going to have to explain to me what I am to do if I supposedly died. I can't go back to my world."  
"You won't have to. Not as Ryuzaki." Teela replied. "But eat your ice cream. In truth, I'm still trying to figure out what's the game plan." She admitted, shrugging. Ryuzaki went on eating his ice cream, paying her no more attention. His stomach had suddenly become an empty pit the moment the ice cream had touched his lips, and he was driven by the feel that if he didn't fill himself as soon as possible, that his own organs would eat themselves.

That was not a pleasant feeling.

"So who was the other person?" Ryuzaki asked casually. He had almost forgotten.

"It's not important." She turned away from him and towards the window again. "Eat your ice cream."

Ryuzaki found that being talked to like a child wasn't exactly a pleasant feeling either, but he supposed he could tolerate it for now. He had his chocolate ice cream.


	2. Teela Ketana

**(Edited: Part of this was previously in chapter one. Split. Added the rest of the chapter.) **

**Chapter Two: Teela Ketana**

Teela watched Ryuzaki eat and turned to the window. She was having a hard time coming up with what to tell Ryuzaki, and her own morals had begun to bother her. The girl did believe in God, but she wondered what kind of God would curse her with the choices she often had to make.

She had long ago made the decision that she would no longer interfere with death, but here she was again, waltzing with him like a long-missed and divorced lover. It had only cost her half her life force, and she didn't _feel _any differently.

"A question, if you don't mind answering." Ryuzaki's words came out through the last bites of ice cream he ingested.

"Shoot." Her voice seemed hallow now, uninspired.

"Can I infer that you're very intelligent?"  
"L, if I may call you so, why don't you answer that yourself?"  
"How old are you?"  
"Answer it yourself." She sighed.

"Do we have to keep playing this question-answer game, Teela? You obviously know a lot more about me than I know about you."

"You WANT to know about me?" The girl turned sharply, a slight smile on her face. "No, you don't want to know about me. You only want to know about me so you can figure out why you're here and how I did what I did. You want to know the whole story, L. You could care less about me."

"Not true. I do believe I have no choice but to care because you are a great factor in this, obviously. I just wish you'd stop giving me round about answers, and tell me why I'm here, because I'm sick of beating around the bush. You want me to figure out everything on my own and yet you provide me with no base knowledge."

Teela Ketana laughed aloud. She then came to sit beside Ryuzaki

"Fine. I'll share my story. For one thing, I am a shapeshifter. I told you that. I was a little surprised you didn't ask me to demonstrate or anything. I suppose you believe me."  
"I do believe you, because I can see that you're not one to really lie. Or so I see so far."

"Yes... but, I'm from another dimension. I seen you in yours through a black box called a TV--"  
"That thing you watch programs on?"  
"No... it's not like that kind of TV. It's an Existence TV, I guess you could call it. I see things from other dimensions. I told you that already, Ryuzaki. I used to believe I was meant to be some sort of super hero, because I am a shapeshifter, after all, and most of us have only one or two weaknesses...for the few of us that're exist anymore. Either way, I used to go around watching for danger and rescuing people, creatures, etc., until I was forced to sacrifice my life for my own world."

"Obviously you didn't?"  
"I did." Teela Ketana smiled. Ryuzaki noticed that her skin seemed to glow when she did.

"A sacrifice is when you give up something. Sacrificing yourself would mean you would have died."

"In a way, I did. I'm a shapeshifter, and we don't die very easily. We're not like people, not like you at all Ryuzaki, which is why I didn't really worry about sacrificing... It's a story I don't care to share, a life that I've left behind... With too many loved ones left behind." She turned back towards the window and sighed.

"Who did you bring back?"  
"It's not important. You've never met them, and you probably never will. In fact..."

"I want to know!" Ryuzaki pressed, the urgency in his voice causing Teela to recoil. She was shocked at his hunger for knowledge.

"It was my husband... Look, I've made a lot of bad choices throughout my existence. I don't really want to recall any of it. I live for the moment now."

"You're married? You seem... Very young. Ten? Twelve?"  
"I can take on the appearance I want, remember? In estimate I'm pretty young. Definitely within age of human life span... but I've seen and done so much more than most others."

"I can tell. I'm not married. No children. Grew up in an orphanage."  
"I see." In truth, Teela knew that already, but didn't feel the need to be rude.

"Can you tell me where, exactly, we are now?"  
"Fine... We're in what I would call, the dimensional hub. That is... One of the few places where multitudes of dimensions are touching, but not enough to cause harm or changes to the people who pass through."  
"What do you mean by harm?"  
"Well, if you just have a tendency to rip through dimensions, it can change you. Some are ripped from their bodies, some have their bodies completely changed, and others get stuck."

Ryuzaki said nothing. Teela could see the apparent shock on his face though, as well as confusion.

"What's wrong?" The shapeshifter asked.

"I'm trying to see how everything you say... fits in with anything else, and find a suitable math problem to equal all of what you're telling me."  
Teela laughed, and from her pocket pulled out a piece of paper. It had many numbers and symbols written on it. L took note that it looked very worn, and had obviously traveled far. It seemed to be a complex math problem, which after ten strings of a continuing problem, came to one conclusion: In bright, blue letters, INFINITY.

"Infinity?"  
"That is to say that everything is nothing and nothing is everything, which thereby means that everything is everything including nothing."  
"... What?" This perplexed Ryuzaki even more. "I have never..."  
"Sorry... I didn't mean to confuse you more. In short, everything is weird, because... well, in order to be everything, you have to be nothing as well, and to be nothing, you must be everything. That's the math problem, which is easiest to express in words in my opinion."  
"Where did you find all of those figures? How did you come up with this?"  
"Because that's my story, Ryuzaki. Infinity. The highest dimension there is, which is actually the first, the base, and a support for all other dimensions."  
Teela shrugged, her serious look immediately fading.

"But I'm not into all that intelligent crap. I want to live my life. I don't want to live analyzing everything and find out how 'everything fits in with everything.'"

Ryuzaki sat in silence. He began to drink the melted ice cream, his mind toying with what Teela had just told him. It made no sense at all, and yet it made every possible thing he'd ever heard logical. Simple, but too complex. For the first time since being brought back to life, he was amused. This was interesting.


	3. What is Strange?

**Chapter Three: What is Strange?**

"I like anthro." Teela announced, giggling. "I really like to watch the dimension of David Hopkins. His little window to the world amazes me."  
She seemed casual now. Ryuzaki shrugged, because he didn't know what she was talking about.

"... He's a webcomic, in your world. Jack? By David Hopkins?"  
"I never read webcomics. I felt they weren't providing me with any knowledge, so what's the point?"

"Not everything has to be about learning, Ryuzaki. There isn't a math equation for enjoyment."

"Not true. Because the dendrite in the brain---"

"That isn't what I meant... There isn't a math problem for why humans like what they like---"

"It's encoded in their DNA." L announced proudly, enjoying his rebuttal of Teela's phrases.

"Ryuzaki, I don't think you get it. If you were to look at my DNA, every strand would be complete opposite as the one before it. Every time you view it, it would be changed. So where is my DNA encoding for enjoyment? Not everything is a math problem. The enjoyment of something can not be explained. Do you ever enjoy something that CAN'T be explained? Must everything be logical to you? I'm guessing you've never enjoyed a fiction novel."

Ryuzaki said nothing. He was getting aggravated with Teela seeming to over come him in logic each time. Nothing she said made sense, and yet it did.

"You need to lighten up before I put you back in your world."

Again, there was silence.

"I don't like to be treated like a child."  
"I knew that. I'm not treating you like a child. You can just call me a teacher, if you'd like. And you're being forced to go to school. I wish you would just consider me a friend and then we wouldn't have to go through with the arguing. I want to help you. You can call me a kidnapper, or a friend. I'll let you decide."

Ryuzaki didn't have time to respond before a flash of life erupted through the room, and a figure fell out of the air, then sloppily onto the floor. It jumped to its feet, and as the light faded, L realized he was looking at bear looking creature. It looked human, and yet very much like a thin, bipedal panda bear.

"Zephyr, how many times have I told you, don't make such an entrance?"  
"This _is _room, mind you." The creature spoke with an almost English accent, as though he had come straight from the British academy for young boys.

"Yes, but I have a guest."

"Mmhm, Mom, I know, that dude you've been stalking, who died, and who you said you're going to bring back to life."  
Teela raised an eyebrow, but only Ryuzaki took note of the use of the word 'mom', and then looked to Teela. He immediately felt sorry for the bear creature.

"Uhm... excuse me, boy, but... of what Nationality are you?" L tried to keep a straight face.

"I'm a panda bear." The bear creature replied.

Ryuzaki said nothing. The more he seemed to question, the stranger things got. He was having a hard time swallowing any of this.

"You've got a bear for a son?"

"He's a shapeshifter. An anthro panda bear. Zephyr."

"What was his Dad? A lizard?"  
"Nope. A fox."

Ryuzaki blinked, then looked down to his melted ice cream. He began to take large scoops, and sank into a quiet thought.

"Don't mind Ryuzaki, Zephyr. He's already having a rough day."  
"I'll bet." Zephyr shrugged. "I just came to drop of these CD's. Listen to 'em, will yah?"  
"Later."  
"Alright. I'm going back out into the city." Without a flash or any more of a warning, Zephyr vanished.

Teela looked back to Ryuzaki.

"Sorry for the interrruption..." She said, concern in her eyes.

"Everything I know is dying." He said with a distant, monotone voice.

"And all that you love is being carried away? Sorry... a quote from a book. But... Are you alright, L?"  
"No, I wanted to stay dead. This is just... too illogical for me."

"It's a simple concept. I had a hard time understanding it, at first, too. You just have to accept the probability of everything and nothing at once. Simple. Simulatenous rule."

"The uncertainty of everything doesn't drive you insane already?... If that doesn't get you, then the uncertainty of certainty is---"

"You're confusing me and yourself. Why don't you stop thinking about it? I keep telling you to relax. Now, back to before... Are you my prisoner, or are you my friend?"

"I have a choice now?" Ryuzaki asked, looking to Teela and glaring at her.

"Don't blame me for your confusion."

"I don't know who else to blame."

"I don't want to argue."

"I do."

Teela said nothing.

"Prisoner then?"  
"Yes." Ryuzaki crossed his arms and sighed. "I want some paper and a pencil. I'm going to try to work out the equations and the likelihood that I would be brought back to life, meet a shapeshifter whose son is a bear, and if the existence of everything and nothing at once."

"Suit yourself. But until then, you can stay in this room, where there are no pointy objects to kill yourself with." She reminded. "And you promised you wouldn't try."

"Perhaps you can work out the likelihood of me keeping that promise."

Teela frowned. This had gone much worse than she had planned. She only wanted to bring him back, teach him what it was to enjoy life. Or at least that was the first half of her plan. She supposed it would still work out, but it would definitely take longer.

"I'll be back... Alright? I need to go talk to Zephyr. I'll bring back some strawberry short cake for you..."

"If I'm still here." Ryuzaki sneered. Teela could tell that he seemed to be trying to get on her nerves now.

The shapeshifter said nothing, and disappeared.

Zephyr sat on a bench outside of a purple apartment complex, looking up from the street below into his own room. He never left his room, and felt too unsure to go anywhere but the bench. He wasn't surprised when his mother materialized beside him.

"This isn't going like I wanted it to."

"I told you that he wouldn't be able to handle it."

"He's handling it, but not adapting to it. I don't want to send him back..."

"Why are you doing this?"  
"Because, Zerphyr! I want him to enjoy life before he dies... That's the only problem I had. He died too soon, and without ever enjoying anything. I wanted to change things... I planned on teaching him how to have fun, erasing his memories of me and ever being here, go back in time, and just... put him back. Then he'll have fun before he dies."

"You'd let him die? That wasn't the plan before, was it?"  
"No... But something he said made me reconsider. In a way, I am playing God. It's not fair to those who were also killed by Kira. In the end, L has to die... but I at least want him to enjoy life. He didn't even flirt with Misa-Misa!!" She rolled her eyes. "He could have enjoyed being handcuffed to Light. I just want to see him laugh more, when I send him back. That's all. But he's just... too hard headed, it seems..."

"I don't believe that is the word for it, Mom."

"Do you think I should have done this at all?"  
"I always tell you know, and you know that. I always tell you that you shouldn't interfere with what should be left in the cartoons of others. Let things play out on their own."

"It's not fair."

"Life isn't."

"Not when I don't interfere with it, it isn't."

Zephyr raised an eyebrow. Teela scowled.

"You have to finish what you started anyways. Do what you think is right. I'm not going to tell you the answers."

"You only do when I'm struggling."

"I don't think you're struggling yet, Mom."

"I'm not. But I'm having difficulty."

"You'll figure it out. I don't have any good advice right now."

"It should be the other way around. I should be giving YOU advice."

"Well usually you have your hands full, and I like to help."

They smiled at one another, and Teela embraced him. Life had never been difficult with just the two of them, but that hadn't meant that it had always been fair.

She disappeared once more, and reappeared beside him with two tubs of ice cream. She handed one to Zephyr, and vanished with the other.


	4. Musically Cured

**Chapter Four: Musically Cured**

Ryuzaki was laying down in the corner of the room when Teela reappeared. She looked apologetically to him and cautiously pushed the ice cream bucket towards him.

"Here." Teela then reached into her pocket and pulled out a CD player. The cd's Zephyr had handed to her lay in a small tower on the floor; obviously L had attempted to go through them, because the one that had been on top was now on the bottom. In addition, the shapeshifter pulled out a pair of tiny, box speaker and plugged them into the headphone jack of the CD player.

"What're you going to do now?" L finally acknowledged what she was doing.

" I'm 'gonna listen to some music. Hope you don't mind."

"I've never heard of Smash Mouth… What kind of band is that?"

Teela chuckled in reply and took out one of the CD's, carefully placing it inside the player. After a few buttons, a male singer began to sing.

_"Somebody once told me, the world is gonna row me… I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. She was looking kinda dumb with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an 'L' on her forehead…" _

As the chorus shortly followed, L found himself rocking his head along slightly.

"I've never heard this before."

"Did you ever even used to listen to music?"

"No… Not really. I mean, I knew of bands connected to certain criminals, but I—"

"Never stopped to listen. And that's your problem Ryuzaki. You never stopped to listen, to enjoy."

Ryuzaki opened the ice cream bucket and grabbed the spoon he had used earlier. After several moments, the song went off, and Ryuzaki looked up suddenly.

"That's it?"

"Huh? Yeah. The song can't go on forever."

"But…"  
Teela found herself grinning widely. "You want to hear it again?"

"I can do that?"

"Yes. … You've never owned a CD player?"

"No."

"Alright then… anyways…" Teela pressed the back button, and the song began. This time, L began to sing.

"Hey now ,you're an all-star, get your game on, go play, hey now, you're a rock staar, get your show on get paid and all that's glitters just goolllld; on;y shooting stars break the mooollddd." He rocked with the instrumental break, and began to pound along with the beat.

"I said yup, what a concept I could use a little fuel myself, and we could all use a little cchhhaaannngee. Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming, fed to the rules, and I hit the ground running, it didn't make sense not to live for fun; your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb, so much to do so much to see, so what's wrong with taking the back streets? You'll never know if you don't go! You'll never shine if you don't glow!"

Teela was shocked when Ryuzaki put down the tub of ice cream and began to dance. He wasn't nearly as good at dancing as he was singing, but he was attempting, and it looked like he was having fun.

When the song ended again, he sat, a small smile on his face.

"I never got to do that before. There was never any time for dancing… in fact, I haven't really… danced since I was a small kid. But the kids told me that dancing was for normals."

"Normals?" Teela asked.

"Yeah… you see, for whatever reason, the kids in the orphanage were… rather arrogant. They believed that just because they were smarter than everyone else, that they shouldn't do what others did. I never exactly fit in with any of them, but I didn't want to draw any… attention to myself, so I never danced again."

"That's horrible! You should do whatever makes you happy, as long as it's the right thing to do. Ryuzaki, I always thought you could use a little more fun in life… that's why I brought you back. I didn't think it was fair that you worked so hard and never actually had any enjoyment."

"No, Teela, but you're wrong about one thing."

"What?"

"I enjoyed working too. I don't want to get rude, but I think it is a good point… that what you feel is enjoyment may not necessarily be what I find is enjoyment. It's all a matter of opinion. You wanted me back in this world, but who says I wanted to be here?"

The shapeshifter stared in astonishment. She had never thought about it from that angle.

"I'm… sorry…"

"Don't be. I'm glad to be back. There are many things… in the world… I've yet to experience. I get what you were trying to do now, Teela, and I understand. I'm thankful that you brought me back."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. There's so many bands I can listen to… I never actually go to learn to play an instrument! That was always a secret thought of mine. I have so much time now, that I'm not managing the FBI, and I'm still young. I have so much to experience."

"So you're not angry at me?"

"No. I'm very thankful."

"So… we can be… friends?"

"I wouldn't mind that at all. I hope you're not going to randomly appear …. In my life… you know, whenever you feel."

"No. What I planned to do was to put you back in your own world. In Japan."

"I don't want to go back to Japan, though."

"Where… else would you go?"

"America. Australia. Everywhere. I want to travel. Perhaps even Finland."

"Finland?"

"Absolutely."

"You don't want to find out who your successor was?"

"I already knew who'd defeat Light, Teela. There's no need to even pay any attention to that, because you know what? This is a whole new beginning. This is my new story… and I can do anything I want with it."

"Well, yes. It seems you've adapted to this quickly."

"I finally saw your point."

"That's, uh, great!" Teela smiled, "So I guess you're ready to go back?"

"I think so."

"How about tomorrow?"

"Hm?"

"Well, I guess if you wanted to go right this instance…"

"Yes, please! I'm ready to take on the world again! I want to go out and accomplish and experience more than I've ever thought of!" Ryuzaki jumped to his feet, that small smile still lighting his face. It extended, until his lips parted, and his toothy grin blossomed.

"Okay. Hang on—" Teela disappeared momentarily.

"I've done it!" Teela appeared beside Zephyr again.

"He wants to go back already?"

"Yes!!"

"Are you sure he's not… acting? Just to find something to kill himself with?"

"No. I showed him some of your music, and… he just… changed."

"That's good, but you're sure you should take him back tonight?"

"He seems eager to get started on his new life."

"Alright then. I suppose I'll see you when you get back." Zephyr nodded, and Teela gave him a thumbs up.

"Thanks for your help. Couldn't have built that machine without your knowledge of tools."

"And remember; a wrench is for building, not eating."

"I knew that."

Teela rolled her eyes and vanished again.

Teela held out her hand to Ryuzaki. He eagerly took it, and they vanished. The room sat in silence, until Zephyr appeared; beginning to clean up the mess that Ryuzaki had left of his ice cream… Oddly enough, the spoon was gone. The anthro panda bear wondered if their "experiment" had eaten with his hands.


	5. And Finally

** Chapter Five: And Finally… **

_**Several Months Later…**_

A soft knock came at apartment room 109. A man with a mop of black hair peered through the peep hole, and grinned as he opened the door. Teela Ketana greeted him kindly as he invited her in.

"How's it been?" Teela asked.

"Oh, you'd never guess…"

"Really? Tell me about it!" She smiled, and took a moment to look at him. He still had faint bags under his eyes, but they were far less dark. An apple pendant glinted around his neck; it was a full, lush red color and almost seemed realistic. He wore a tight red sweatshirt with a black "L" that was decorated with roses, followed by "is for life." He wore loose black jeans, with many pockets. He was recognizable, but not exactly for what he once was.

"My album has been on the number one hit list for several weeks, Teela… and many people are starting to ask for my personal appearance at gatherings and stuff! See this sweatshirt?! One of my fans MADE it for me!"

"Heheh, wow, Ryuzaki, I'm really glad to hear that."

"Please, call me Life now." L smirked.

"No last name?"

"Naw, I think that's what intrigues people the most about me. I don't have a last name."

"But do you really?"

"No, I'm still trying to come up with one."

"So no one from Japan has recognized you?"

"Nope. Only as Life. I'm a musical super hero now! Look, I even have ACTION FIGURES!" He gestured to a package on the table. "And here… I knew you'd be by, eventually, so I got my album for you. You should read who its dedicated to."

Teela curiously opened the CD case Life handed to her. She pulled out the lyric book, and Life pointed to the back page. Under all the credits, lastly, in bold ink, it read: "And to Teela, who showed me that L is for Life. And Life is for living."

She smiled and hugged him, looking around the apartment. It was well furnished, and a large screen TV sat against the back wall. She noticed several video game systems hooked up, and even the game she had heard about recently, "Guitar Hero."

"I'm proud of you." She said, and gestured to the apartment. "You… how many instruments can you play now?"

"I can play the guitar… the saxophone… the drums…I'm especially good with the piano, but you won't find that on my albums… hmm, and I'm actually trying my hand at some newspaper writing. Recently, a TV show wants me to attempt some acting, as well." He grinned… Teela had never seen his face so alit, and full of enjoyment.

"That's amazing. I'm really happy for you. Thank you for the album; it means a lot to me… that you're enjoying life now. That you're doing what you want to do, L."

"Well, what is life for? It's for living, and what's the point in living if you're not going to enjoy it?"

"Exactly."

"L is for Life!"

"That's your album." Teela grinned.

"But it's the truth, Teela. It's not only for Life, me, but it's for living. And living is for—"

"Enjoyment."

They laughed, and Teela looked at her watch.

"I'd better get going… I don't think I'll be back for a real long time, though."

"Hm? How come?"

"I've got a lot of things to do. And you only get one chance to live!"  
"Do shapeshifters die?" Life asked curiously.

"Eventually. So I'll see you around! Good luck with… everything, Life."

"You too, Teela. Thank you."

"Heh, thank yourself."

She turned for the doorway, and Life shut the door behind her. He turned to look at the room around him, and tilted his head, smiling. There was a small thud as his mail came in through the mail slot in the door; tons of envelopes, all decorated with praise, caught his attention.

He picked up the one on top of the pile, and stared at an apple with an L printed inside of it. Under the L, it said, "Is for Life."

"You got that right," He commented, and picked the pile of mail up, placing it on his table. He'd get to those soon… He'd found he enjoyed sleeping too… and had learned that there truly was much more to life than crime, and strawberry ice cream. There was living.

And L is for Life.

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

**"Death Note" Characters** ©** Creators of Death Note**

**"Jack"** ©** David Hopkins (Referred to)**

**"All-Star" – Smash Mouth, Lyrics** ©** to Smash Mouth**

**"Teela Ketana"** ©** Alexandra Ketana/Teela Yoshi (Myself)**

**"Zephyr the Anthro Panda Bear**" ©** Alexandra Ketana/ Teela Yoshi (Myself)**

**  
Those that belong to myself, do not use without my written permission. Thank you.**


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